The present invention relates to a portable liquid dispenser and especially to a liquid dispenser mounted to a wheeled cart and having a plurality of dispensing tubes individually activated.
It is common at many events, work sites, and especially sporting events of all types, to provide liquid beverages to the participants in the sport. The beverages are commonly provided in small containers kept in an insulated cooler or sometimes directly from an insulated container holding a liquid, such as water or other beverage. Beverage coolers frequently have a dispensing spout for dispensing into cups or containers for use by an individual athlete or workman. These prior portable liquid dispensers have the disadvantage that they weigh a lot as a result of the liquids being carried in the container and at each event, a location must be found to set the container on the ground or on a raised level so that different workman, athletes or the like can have access to the dispenser for obtaining the liquid beverage therefrom. A liquid dispenser must also provide throw-away cups and a provision for collecting the used cups and trash or must use a common cup. Very typically, a beverage dispenser allows for dispensing only to one user at a time which delays the number of people dispensing liquids simultaneously.
It has been suggested in the past to provide portable beverage dispensers, such as seen in the U.S. Patent to L. S. Long, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,884, for a portable insulated beverage dispenser supported upon the shoulders and back of a vender for dispensing liquid out a flexible tube through a valved nozzle and in the U.S. Des. Pat. No. to Billet, No. D 321,980, for a portable beverage dispenser. Another portable beverage dispenser can be seen in the U.S. patent to Ash, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,402, for a portable beverage dispenser having a rigid dispenser tank with an inflatable gas bladder with pressurized air to maintain the liquid beverage under pressure. In the U.S. Patent to LoGioco, U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,214, a spray mate cooler has a portable ice chest with a removable lid and has a mechanism in the bottom of the container for elevating the ice to permit cold water from the melted ice to collect on the bottom. It also has a mechanism for spraying the cold water collected on the bottom through a sidewall of the container. In the U.S. Patent to Lackey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,900, a container having an internal liner dispenses through a valve tube out of the bottom of the container. In the U.S. Patent to Rogers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,085, a chilled beverage display container is illustrated while in the Harrison et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,708, a water cooler is disclosed which is mounted in a raised position within a refrigerator for dispensing a liquid therefrom.
In contrast to these prior art devices, the present invention is directed towards an insulated liquid cooler which can be wheeled to an athletic contest or to a work site and held in a raised position with a plurality of dispensing tubes each separately valved to allow a plurality of athletes or workers or the like to dispense a liquid directly into their mouths. The wheeled container can also support two containers and allows one to telescope into a raised positioned.